Authorizing more airports for travel to Cuba is a good step: An editorial

The Obama administration continues to move in the right direction by easing travel restrictions to Cuba, and the latest policy change will directly benefit New Orleans.

DONALD STOUT/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport is one of nine authorized this week to handle charter flights to Cuba.

The administration this week announced that it will allow charter flights to and from the island from nine airports, including Louis Armstrong International in Kenner, Tampa, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta and others. Previously, only Los Angeles, New York and Miami could provide service to Cuba.

Passengers of the new flights still need to belong to several allowed categories for travel to Cuba, such as people with close relatives there or those traveling on authorized cultural, religious or economic missions. That means the economic effect on Louis Armstrong International Airport is likely to be modest.

But New Orleans has historic ties to the island, and thousands of Cuban immigrants have located here throughout the years. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu called the airport's approval "an exciting step forward for this community and the entire state of Louisiana." He's right.

More importantly, the decision to expand travel ports to the island continues the Obama administration's efforts to ease travel and commerce restrictions with Cuba. Since he took office, President Obama has undone restrictions approved by his predecessor, allowed more educational and cultural trips to the Caribbean nation and decided to let American telecommunications firms operate there.

The Treasury Department also began allowing Western Union to pay out money remittances from Americans to their Cuban relatives in pesos instead of dollars, which saved recipients the 10 percent charge the Cuban government had imposed to exchange dollars to pesos.

Lifting the U.S. embargo on Cuba, which has only worsened the suffering of the Cuban people, should be the ultimate goal of the administration's strategy.

In the meantime, though, letting New Orleanians hop on a plane to the island is a welcome step.